Artificial leg



UNITED STATES PATEN GFFICE.

JONATHAN RUSSELL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ARTIFICIAL LEG'.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,202, dated August 17, 1852.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JONATHAN RUSSELL, of the city and county of Philadelphia and ,State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Artilcial Legs; and I do hereby declare the f ollowing to be a full, clear, and exact descr1p tion of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part thereof, in which- Figure l represents a view of an artiicial leg to be attached above the knee; and Fig. 2, represents a similar view with one half of t-he shell cut away so as to exhibit the interior parts.

Similar letters in both the figures denote the same parts.

The nature of my invention consists in so combining and arranging the several parts of an artificial leg, as that the knee-joint shall be rmly locked by the weight upon it, when applied to either the toe, or heel part of the foot, thus making the knee-joint perfectly rigid when the leg is erect and the weight of the body or a portion of it, is

Y thrown upon it, at the will of the wearer.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

The leg may be constructed of wood, or any other well known equally light and strong material, and when it is to be united to the natural limb above the knee, should be made in fo-ur distinct pieces, so as to form joints at the knee, ankle, and ball or toe of the foot, and these joints may be covered with any elastic material, so that the exterior of the leg will present a smooth, uniform surface. When the artificial leg is joined to the natural limb below the knee the same lock joints may be used, and if deemed necessary or essential to a better control of the part, it may be made to lock into the thigh bandages.

A, represents the top part of the artificial leg, which is hollowed out, forming as it were a socket, for that portion of the natural limb, which rests in it upon a pad or otherwise.

B, represents the portion between the knee and the ankle, the top of which is rounded oli", so that the lower end of the top part A, will fit over it, forming a cup-joint. There is a tenon C, on the part A, which fits into an open mortise or slot in the part B, so that the joint shall be perfectly rigid laterally, and move only in the direction of a natural knee joint-the two parts being connected by a bolt or pin D, upon which the part A, may swing. A shoulder E, is formed upon the part B, against which, when the kneejoint is bent its utmost, the portion F, of the upper part A rests, keeping the parts from moving too far, and straining unnecessarily the inner parts. The joint at the ankle, may be made in a manner similar. to that of the knee-joint, as represented by the tenon or tongue G, and pin H, and as the motion of the ankle is naturally much less than that at the knee, and must be in a direction both forward and back, -I form the shoulder as seen at I I, to allow of this extent of motion. The toe-part has a tenon or tongue J, extending back into the foot, and is secured by a pin K, on which it works, the joint or shoulders of the joint or both, being rounded off for the purpose. The interior of the part B, isleft open, or cut away, to receive a helical spring L, to the upper end of which is attached a .gut or other strong cord a, which passes over a friction roller Y), and thence past the pin D, in which there is a notch d cut (as seen in Fig. 2) to prevent it from being too much strained when the knee-joint is bent its utmostthence to a thumb screw c, by which the spring L, and the cords &c. attached to it, may be adjusted to any desired tension. On a smal shaft e, on which the friction roller b, is placed, is also arranged a bent lever f, to the lower end of which is alixed a rod g, which is attached to the lower end of the spring L. The bent arm of the lever f, has a projection or tooth 72 upon it, which, when the spring is drawn down by either of the cords i, y', which pass down over a friction roller lc,- (One of which z' is fastened to the toe partof the foot, and the other y', to the instep,) draws the tooth it, in the arm of the lever f, into a notch or recess Z, cut in the tenon of the part A, and firmly locks the knee-joint, in which position it will remain, until the pressure of the body is thrown from the heel or toe, as the case may be, and which operates the cords z', j, onto the ball of the foot, when the contraction of the spring will draw out the tooth L, leaving the knee-joint free to move again.

It will be perceived that all the motions of the leg and jo-ints are controlled by the one spring L, it being the only spring used, which makes the leg extremely simple, witho-ut any liability of becoming deranged, and it may be used for straightening out, or aid in so doing, the lower part of the leg, when the person rises from a sitting posture, so that the artificial leg will be in the proper position for supporting the body, or for stepping forward, as the case may be.

In walking it is very desirable that the` knee joint should be at all times perfectly under the control of the wearer, and particularly when the artificial limb is at its .greatest inclination with the body, which is on the first or last of each step, and in which case the whole weight is upo-n the heel or theV toe parts of the foot. By my arrangement the weight coming upon the heel or toe either, locks the joint, and forms a perfectly reliable support, at the will of the wearer,

until the weight is thrown upon the ball of the foot.

Beside the advantages, of eXtreme simplicity, and permanency in my invention, is that of cheapness, being able to furnish the leg complete, at a cost almost, if not quite 4fifty per cent. less than those now in use. 

